BobTD
03-02-2010, 09:41 PM
http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/8565/titled2.jpg
Genre: Hack and slash action roll-playing
Release date: Jun 29, 2000
System requirements Mac OS
G3 processor or equivalent, System 8.1 or later, 64 MB RAM plus Virtual Memory, 650MB drive space, 4X CD-ROM drive, 256 color display at 640x480 resolution (800x600 with expansion)
Windows
233 MHz Pentium or better, 32 MB RAM, 650 MB drive space, 4X CD-ROM drive, DirectX compatible video card
First impression:
http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/3517/char2.jpg
I honestly have had this game forever, but I still remember the first time I played it. My cousin brought it over and let me try it and I thought the necromancer was to coolest thing ever. (thus began a long history of my love for the necro class, my name stands for “Bobthedead”)
The first thing my cousin did was to make sure I set the resolution higher, and told me how to properly skill my character. He said to stick to two of the three available skill trees to maximize their effectiveness. I wont get into endgame theory here, but his advice was on an important matter. Talent trees where a new prospect to me in those days and its the bar by witch many others would be measured against.
DiabloII and the later expansion Lord of Destruction make one of the most influential RPG games in in history. And have earned their spot on many lists as one of the best games ever made. Including an award for being in the top 50 most important games of all time according to IGN magazine for its online multiplayer. The game is widely praised for its online play, on Battle.net, and its still played by thousands of gamers.
http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/9379/linup.jpg
Gameplay:
You play as one of seven playable characters: Barbarian, Amazon, Paladin, Necromancer, Sorceress, Assassin, and druid.
The most recognizable feature of this game is the loot drop system. Boarderlands loot is based heavily on the Diablo2 loot system. They've straight-up said that they tried their best to copy the loot system.
Items have several possible random attributes, with effects and skills within certain parameters depending on the item level, usually determined by the area and creature they are dropped by, on each difficulty setting.
In truth Diablo2 probably has much more loot, considering many of the guns you pick up in boarderlands are the same, with different % values on them. If we considered each item in Diablo within a specific % value, with twice as many possible value fields, and many more types of items to be found, its probably several times the amount found in Boarderlands.
The full game consists of 5 acts, each with a range of quests to be completed, after beating the game you can begin on a harder difficulty, with stronger enemies, and better drops. (I'm tired of the boardland comparisons, but you get the idea)
Gameplay is varied enough to remain interesting. Maps are randomly generated. Unique enemies are placed and have minions that benefit from a range of randomly attributed power ups. When you play with friends, the enemies scale up in strength depending on how many human players join.
There are a lot of fun stats to play around with:
http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/6590/statsps.jpg
Items can be modified by placing collectible items in sockets, such as precious stones, jewls, runes ect. Or by adding sockets to items be completing a quest available once in the game. Each character can then add 3 sockets by defeating the three difficulty settings. This is usually saved for the truly rare items in the game.
Rarity values work like this:
Ethereal (appear translucent, cant be repaired)
Normal (white)
Enchanted (blue)
Uncommon (yellow)
Set item (green)
Unique (gold)
Rare (red)
http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/2870/lootv.jpg
Any of those can also have the socked attribute, randomly according to size and lvl. The items can also come with a prefix and suffix. The attributes they can randomly receive are actually several pages long so I wont get into it. But its needless to say there is plenty of loot to be found.
Combat works by setting skills to your left and right click, and adding a hot key to skills between F-1 and F-9. Each character will need to be played differently. I actually have different assassins built for when I'm playing with a touch pad or mouse. =P
http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/3192/abaddont.jpg
Sound/Graphics:
Did I mention the wonderful design and implementation of the game’s interface?
This game is played from an above third person view. While not being fully 3D, its still visually appealing. Its style allows for frantic action without slowing your computer. And its wide range of buffs and curses (represented by glowing colored auras or icons above the player) are easily recognized. This is all important when considering how the game play became so addictive that its still popular ten years later.
The score (its not really 'music') integrates creepy ambiance with melodic pieces. The style of the score is ambient industrial and experimental. Wikipedia informs me that “Some tracks were created by reusing the tracks from the original game, while others by rearranging tracks that were out-takes. Other scores are combinations of parts that were created more than a year after the first game's release.”
However it was achieved, the game has some very recognizable background music.
Gameplay vid (found on youtube, as my recording device is having issues), when you see the character jumping around that just the skill teleport.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ldzKcSiqMU
Final Thoughts:
How would you feel if you just found out Boarderlands mission to retrieve an NPC wooden leg, and the instance where a “cracked sash” is found are both throwbacks to the Diablo series? Gearbox had a definite hardon for the Diablo series. As well as some other very well know titles such as fallout (they had Diablo armor, that required stats no character could achieve). And many other games.
The number of references to this game found in other games alone makes it important cultural material.
If you haven't already, you should play Diablo2 before Diablo3 comes out, though you don't have to worry yet as there is no set release date. As I have said before, this game remains on my hard drive as a staple of Action RPGs. And probably will for many more years to come.
http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/3687/cinemavw.jpg
Recommendation:
Buy it, install it, play it. Repeat 3rd step until you receive further instructions.
Thanks for taking the time to read.
-BobTD
Genre: Hack and slash action roll-playing
Release date: Jun 29, 2000
System requirements Mac OS
G3 processor or equivalent, System 8.1 or later, 64 MB RAM plus Virtual Memory, 650MB drive space, 4X CD-ROM drive, 256 color display at 640x480 resolution (800x600 with expansion)
Windows
233 MHz Pentium or better, 32 MB RAM, 650 MB drive space, 4X CD-ROM drive, DirectX compatible video card
First impression:
http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/3517/char2.jpg
I honestly have had this game forever, but I still remember the first time I played it. My cousin brought it over and let me try it and I thought the necromancer was to coolest thing ever. (thus began a long history of my love for the necro class, my name stands for “Bobthedead”)
The first thing my cousin did was to make sure I set the resolution higher, and told me how to properly skill my character. He said to stick to two of the three available skill trees to maximize their effectiveness. I wont get into endgame theory here, but his advice was on an important matter. Talent trees where a new prospect to me in those days and its the bar by witch many others would be measured against.
DiabloII and the later expansion Lord of Destruction make one of the most influential RPG games in in history. And have earned their spot on many lists as one of the best games ever made. Including an award for being in the top 50 most important games of all time according to IGN magazine for its online multiplayer. The game is widely praised for its online play, on Battle.net, and its still played by thousands of gamers.
http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/9379/linup.jpg
Gameplay:
You play as one of seven playable characters: Barbarian, Amazon, Paladin, Necromancer, Sorceress, Assassin, and druid.
The most recognizable feature of this game is the loot drop system. Boarderlands loot is based heavily on the Diablo2 loot system. They've straight-up said that they tried their best to copy the loot system.
Items have several possible random attributes, with effects and skills within certain parameters depending on the item level, usually determined by the area and creature they are dropped by, on each difficulty setting.
In truth Diablo2 probably has much more loot, considering many of the guns you pick up in boarderlands are the same, with different % values on them. If we considered each item in Diablo within a specific % value, with twice as many possible value fields, and many more types of items to be found, its probably several times the amount found in Boarderlands.
The full game consists of 5 acts, each with a range of quests to be completed, after beating the game you can begin on a harder difficulty, with stronger enemies, and better drops. (I'm tired of the boardland comparisons, but you get the idea)
Gameplay is varied enough to remain interesting. Maps are randomly generated. Unique enemies are placed and have minions that benefit from a range of randomly attributed power ups. When you play with friends, the enemies scale up in strength depending on how many human players join.
There are a lot of fun stats to play around with:
http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/6590/statsps.jpg
Items can be modified by placing collectible items in sockets, such as precious stones, jewls, runes ect. Or by adding sockets to items be completing a quest available once in the game. Each character can then add 3 sockets by defeating the three difficulty settings. This is usually saved for the truly rare items in the game.
Rarity values work like this:
Ethereal (appear translucent, cant be repaired)
Normal (white)
Enchanted (blue)
Uncommon (yellow)
Set item (green)
Unique (gold)
Rare (red)
http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/2870/lootv.jpg
Any of those can also have the socked attribute, randomly according to size and lvl. The items can also come with a prefix and suffix. The attributes they can randomly receive are actually several pages long so I wont get into it. But its needless to say there is plenty of loot to be found.
Combat works by setting skills to your left and right click, and adding a hot key to skills between F-1 and F-9. Each character will need to be played differently. I actually have different assassins built for when I'm playing with a touch pad or mouse. =P
http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/3192/abaddont.jpg
Sound/Graphics:
Did I mention the wonderful design and implementation of the game’s interface?
This game is played from an above third person view. While not being fully 3D, its still visually appealing. Its style allows for frantic action without slowing your computer. And its wide range of buffs and curses (represented by glowing colored auras or icons above the player) are easily recognized. This is all important when considering how the game play became so addictive that its still popular ten years later.
The score (its not really 'music') integrates creepy ambiance with melodic pieces. The style of the score is ambient industrial and experimental. Wikipedia informs me that “Some tracks were created by reusing the tracks from the original game, while others by rearranging tracks that were out-takes. Other scores are combinations of parts that were created more than a year after the first game's release.”
However it was achieved, the game has some very recognizable background music.
Gameplay vid (found on youtube, as my recording device is having issues), when you see the character jumping around that just the skill teleport.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ldzKcSiqMU
Final Thoughts:
How would you feel if you just found out Boarderlands mission to retrieve an NPC wooden leg, and the instance where a “cracked sash” is found are both throwbacks to the Diablo series? Gearbox had a definite hardon for the Diablo series. As well as some other very well know titles such as fallout (they had Diablo armor, that required stats no character could achieve). And many other games.
The number of references to this game found in other games alone makes it important cultural material.
If you haven't already, you should play Diablo2 before Diablo3 comes out, though you don't have to worry yet as there is no set release date. As I have said before, this game remains on my hard drive as a staple of Action RPGs. And probably will for many more years to come.
http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/3687/cinemavw.jpg
Recommendation:
Buy it, install it, play it. Repeat 3rd step until you receive further instructions.
Thanks for taking the time to read.
-BobTD